Maria Bailey agrees to Fine Gael ‘internal review’ on swing case

Fine Gael has commissioned an internal review to establish "all facts" in relation to a personal injury claim taken by party TD Maria Bailey against a hotel.

Ms Bailey met with the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this afternoon to discuss the controversy.

In a statement, the party said: “An Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader Leo Varadkar met today with Deputy Maria Bailey.

“In relation to a civil case which Deputy Bailey is withdrawing from the courts, Fine Gael is undertaking an internal review to establish all facts. The review will be undertaken by David Kennedy, Senior Counsel.

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“Deputy Maria Bailey has agreed to participate fully with this review.”

A number of Cabinet members, party members and opposition TDs had openly criticised her decision to take the case including the Minister for Health Simon Harris.

Speaking in Washington, Minister for Education Joe Mc Hugh said that, he believes that in hindsight she “would not have done” what she had done in taking a case against the hotel.

Asked if he believed it had affected Fine Gael’s vote in the election, he said that insurance costs had been a big issue during the election. “I found it in my own constituency, on doorsteps,” he said, noting that constituents had raised the issue of insurance costs.

“Insurance is an issue we are grappling with, and we need to see a solution.”

Earlier in the week, the Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty had described an interview Ms Bailey had given RTE’s Sean O’Rourke show as “unfortunate”.

Recounting the incident, Ms Bailey said when she sat on the swing, “I had my beer in my hand, and then I was reaching for my friend’s, I had a bottle of wine. She was taking her camera out of her jacket. I then found myself on the floor. I was mortified.”

Asked if she had a bottle in each hand while on the swing, Ms Bailey did not clarify. Ms Bailey said she had fallen, had been “mortified” and asked hotel reception for plasters for “cuts and grazes”. The hotel staff had been “very respectful”.

She also said the disclosure of her case had been methodically pre-planned to “cause the maximum damage”. And in the past week she had been subjected to “unbelievable abuse” and could not go home for three days because there were journalists outside her house.